


edging towards hope

by kinpika



Series: lyrium high [6]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: is it worth helping their hero?, post HLtA pre WEWH, quid pro quo, separate herald and inquisitor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-16
Updated: 2017-11-16
Packaged: 2019-02-03 06:55:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12743289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kinpika/pseuds/kinpika
Summary: “‘Quid pro quo’?” she asks, aside, as squabbling begins. Words heavy and foreign. Definitely not Elvish, trade or even what little qunlat Bull and Amon had shared with her.“It’s Tevene,” Amon answers, as they watch Alistair rise at some taunt from Morrigan. “A way of saying ‘a favour for a favour’.”Kahari watches as their arguments go, and go, andgo, running circles around how they wanted to help, but didn't want to admitwhy.





	edging towards hope

**Author's Note:**

> follows [the extended hand](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12700956)

Leliana had summoned the both of them to the war room, _post-haste_. Kahari barely had a moment to loop buttons through holes, when Amon had knocked precisely once at her door, throwing it open immediately after. He had looked at her, with that frown he always wore, edged his head in the general direction of where they needed to go, and took off. It didn’t help one of his strides was at least three of hers, but she caught up eventually, and now stood before their advisors.

Two of three who looked like they had accidentally eaten something sour, and Josephine looking just as confused as the rest of them. Morrigan too, lingered around the table, and the warden, Alistair, making himself comfortable in a chair off to the left. Quite a group they had managed, and Kahari sent Amon a look from the corner of her eye. What was going on?

Finally, Cassandra joined them, and whatever stillness filled the room fled. Kahari peered around Cassandra to also see Varric trailing after her. She almost expected the rest of their inner circle to join them, but the door was shut, and Leliana finally spoke.

“We asked you to join us because… we weren’t sure how to do this ourselves.” Such uncertainty in Leliana finally has Amon react, even it was just a slow blink. Kahari watches his chest slowing rise and fall, and wondered what went on in his head for his face to remain so impassive, but how his fingers clenched behind his back so tightly.

“What seems to be the problem?” she probes, as she presumes that was the right thing to do. Humans were strange in that they needed needling and reminding to continue conversation. Whilst Kahari found it oddly adorable, Shiral had merely bristled at such an idea. There was harping on about how conversation was not a matter of asking your partner to continue, but well, Shiral said a lot of things Kahari stopped listening to, especially when it came to humans.

Cullen moves, but he’s stiff, just as unsure. Like he wasn’t sure if he should lean against the table, sit at the edge, maybe just lie down on the ground. Kahari was halfway to asking if he would be more comfortable that way, when he finally speaks: “the Hero of Ferelden made contact with us. They… wish to offer their assistance.”

“Oh?” Amon surely made the question, but his mouth hardly moved for it. Fascinated, Kahari continued to stare, waiting for Amon to continue, move the conversation along. But he had said his piece, and Cullen stepped in.

“However, she wants us to help her first.” From the way Cullen fidgets, resting elbow upon hilt before moving once again, this was hitting some chord that he wasn’t sure how to deal with. Kahari left watching Amon’s face, to looking around the room. (Absently, she noticed Varric showing something other than despair — a blank look of fear, and that just _begged_ addressing).

Morrigan interjects, and this was starting off like one of those overtly dramatic books Kahari had recently. “Of course she does. Basilia has always been fond of ‘quid pro quo’, as it was.” 

“‘Quid pro quo’?” she asks, aside, as squabbling begins. Words heavy and foreign. Definitely not Elvish, trade or even what little qunlat Bull and Amon had shared with her. 

“It’s Tevene,” Amon answers, as they watch Alistair rise at some taunt from Morrigan. “A way of saying ‘a favour for a favour’.”

“Oh… what a strange language.”

Amon’s mouth curls into a smile. “Very old fashioned.”

Rolling the words in her head, adding it away to the Tevene that she knew of, Kahari had to ask: “so, should we be worried?” The ‘of her’ went unspoken, but Amon knew immediately.

“I’ve heard stories from the Arishok. He spoke highly of this Hero. Even more so than his predecessor of Hawke. ‘Basalit-an’ is what Hawke is, but the Hero…” His voice sunk to some depth Kahari hadn’t heard before — low, reverent. As if his life had been marked by meeting the Hero, too.

But Kahari frowned as Amon trailed off. Of course she had heard of the Blight, heard of the mage. A Dalish elf had also accompanied her, or several, stories get muddled, but whatever happened to them was lost to the wind. “What did the Arishok call the Hero of Ferelden?”

“‘Kadan’. ‘Ashkaari’. ‘Basalit-an’ even before he was Arishok.”

“Huh.” Truly, that was all she could manage, as Amon’s face fell smoothly back into place, conversation over. Revealed too much, or enough? Kahari had a grasp of Qunlat that she understood the meaning of words, that the new Arishok had heaped on the Hero of Ferelden, and watching how the humans were still disputing over some request or other, just made her wonder what everyone else in the room referred to her as.

“What would you have us do, then?” She asks, just as Leliana, or Josephine, or even Cassandra, went to fire up again.

“Don’t—”

“—We have to—”

“—Morale—”

“Enough!” 

Blinking, Kahari turns to look over her shoulder. Varric had finally spoken up. Strange, to see him equal parts fearful and angered, as he strode into the centre of the room, not letting his emotions prevent him from capturing all eyes. Kahari caught the look Amon gave her, quickly, and nodded. _Let Varric say his piece._

“Yes, having the Hero of Ferelden on our side will be helpful. She’s powerful, connected, and having her in our back pocket will bring in a lot of income, too.” Varric’s eyes sweep as he talks, picking out each person as he raises a point. Making it apparent to them. Kahari always enjoyed watching him speak, as Amon was commanding, authoritative, and she believed herself to be adequate enough. But Varric addressed a room in ways neither of them could.

“I think we’re forgetting the fact that we condemned her cousin to the Fade, the _wardens_ are now separated from the North, what happened at _Redcliffe_ , and the fact that it’s an _archdemon_. Any one of those reasons is enough for her to leave, or burn us all.”

“Varric—” Cassandra speaks up, taking a step forward. An attempt to intervene.

“What’s your point then, Varric? Are you saying we help her, or don’t?” Cullen is tense, just wanting a definitive yes or no. His face shifts too much, as if he himself knows what he wants, and is trying to deny it for argument’s sake. But arguing with _who_? A mental note, for later. Discuss with Amon.

“She’ll know about what happened with Hawke by now. Hawke said she left Fenris in Amell’s care.” There’s tension in him now. The wound was still raw, and when Kahari had sat with Varric by the fire, as he had written out letters to friends spread all over Thedas, she had listened to tales of Hawke that seemed wild and unrealistic. Clenched fists. Hunched shoulders. Wound open and bleeding on the floor.

Kahari wanted to help, but she didn’t know these people. Names, going over her head. Amon seemed to have moved, no longer stony faced and impassive, but looking, trying to find answers in body language. Whatever he found, Kahari hoped he would share. At least three separate people in the room were for the Hero, and Kahari could hear their hearts beat a little faster at just the mention of a surname.

“We just need to know what we need to do, and what _to_ do,” Kahari reminds them, interjecting. No need to rehash the events of Adamant, of Redcliffe, of _Haven_. “We’ll find her, just, please—”

“Basilia plans on heading to Tevinter,” Alistair speaks, and his tone is grave. “She wouldn’t be here for long, even if you found her.”

Morrigan practically _squawks_ , and Kahari had never thought for her to make such an unrefined noise. She was not the only one to notice. “And how would _you_ know something like that?”

Alistair actually manages to procure the most withering stare, and his response was filled with enough weight behind it, that Kahari had to wonder if something deeper was going on. “I do actually try to keep in contact with _friends_ , Morrigan. You should learn about this amazing thing called a letter. Quite _handy_.” 

Finally, _finally,_ Josephine spoke up. “But if _you_ have been keeping in contact, how has no one been able to find Lady Amell?” Kahari had to crack a smile at how she pointedly looked at Cassandra and Leliana. 

“She’s been in Antiva,” Alistair answered, to no one in particular. As if it was just a mere fact. And it was.

Cassandra scoffed. “Antiva?! Don’t be ridiculous!” Had they actually travelled to Antiva? Amon had said something about how much effort had gone into scouring for Hawke, when Hawke walked through the front gates of Skyhold without anyone stopping her. Which just begged the question: did anyone know what their Heroes and Champions even _looked_ like? As no one seemed to believe that neither herself nor Amon could be Herald or Inquisitor. 

And as far as Kahari was aware, both Amell and Hawke were humans. Ferelden women, too.

“With Zevran. Crows? Antivan Crows? Remember that assassination attempt? Love at first stab thing? Her and Zevran are _always_ together. The last time I saw them at Amaranthine they were hardly separated for a minute.”

From the way Alistair spelled it out, realisation seemed to dawn on Cassandra like she hadn’t considered that a possibility. When Kahari’s clan had been going between lands and borders, they had heard of the Crows — but of course, almost everyone did. Rumours of Dalish elves joining the Crows was something elders tried to crush, but some younger ones romanticised it, while others lived in fear of being taken in the night. 

Kahari admittedly had found one of the stories some of the older girls told to be bittersweet, and well. _Well_. “Wait, the Hero — the Warden — nearly got assassinated, and instead married her assassin?” Creators, this was definitely better than her books.

“It wasn’t a very good attempt, to be fair.” Alistair shrugged. Kahari was going to write a letter home, and tell them that at least a combination of six different stories had actually come true.

“But it _happened_!”

Opening his mouth to speak, Alistair was cut off. Not by Morrigan, Leliana, Cassandra, Cullen or even Josephine! But, in fact—

“I have heard enough.” Snatching the papers off the table, a map, a note, a series of questions, Amon turns heel and only stops to pause at the door for one last rumble. “We will leave at sundown. Finish your squabbling and see me before then if need be.”

The door closes. No one spoke. Kahari assumed that meant Amon had gathered what he had needed to understand, and let out a small sigh. Her cue to leave as well. Amon would tell Bull, who would tell her. Convenient Bull was so willing to work between the two of them, as if the translation and secrecy reminded him of a life he once had, perhaps.

A thought for another time. Kahari just smiles, bows, and follows where Amon would have gone, not waiting for the door to shut behind her. She can hear the voices rise down the hallway and thinks, oh, _humans_.

**Author's Note:**

> kahari is the herald, amon is the inquisitor. i kinda always preferred the titles separately and, well,
> 
> i do like how in game, depending on romance ofc, but esp w zevran, no one just assumed to find zevran and they would find the warden? 'oh they're missing!' actually theyre vacationing in antiva, but w/e


End file.
